Volume 28

Number
1 April
pp. 067-082
Evaluation
of Greenness
of major Korean
ports
: A Fuzzy
Set2012
Approach
The AsianAn
Journal
of Shipping
and Logistics

An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports :

A Fuzzy Set Approach
Ji-yeong PARK * Gi-tae YEO **

Contents
I . Introduction
II . Literature Review

III. Empirical Analysis

IV . Conclusion

Abstract
As environmental concerns over managing seaports are gaining its
importance, evaluating the greenness of the port accordingly draws a serious
academic and research attention. However, the lack of the research aptly
dealing with this particular problem attributes to the complexity of the
problems involving various quantitative and qualitative factors, combined
with the appropriateness of an evaluation structure. Therefore, this paper
attempts to make contribution to the literature (1) by identifying the factors
and structure of analysis by making use a factor analysis (FA); (2) by utilizing
experts knowledge in solving the complex problems which are in nature
ambiguous and unclear by adopting the fuzzy method; and (3) by ranking the
targeted seaports and suggesting the pilot tail of methodology for evaluation
of greenness of seaports. The results of the empirical research presented the

Key words : Seaports, Evaluation Structure, Fuzzy Methodology, Green

Port, Factor Analysis (FA)
Copyright 2012, The Korean Association of Shipping and Logistics, Inc. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.

Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. Peer review under responsibility of the Korean Association of Shipping and Logistics, Inc.

* PhD Candidate, Graduate School of Logistics, University of Incheon , Korea, Email : assambleuse@incheon.ac.kr
** Corresponding author and Professor of Graduate School of Logistics, University of Incheon , Korea, Email : ktyeo@incheon.ac.kr
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An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports : A Fuzzy Set Approach

I. Introduction
In an effort to spread the green issue of sustainable development in politics
and economics all over the world the World Commission on Environment
and Development (WCED) argued that a substantial part of environmental
damage is caused by transportation industry.1) Logistics coordinates all the
activities involved in the movement of products through the supply chain
at a minimum cost. Onto such a conventional definition of the logistics,
green logistics explicitly takes into account environmental concerns which
were previously treated as the external cost to the logistics in order to ease
a burden on the environment while achieving economic rationality through

environmental burdens inherent to the entire logistics environment, including

management and disposal of the waste products. In this respect, promoting
the green logistics can help businesses to improve their competitiveness by
reducing distribution costs and also CO2 emissions.
Many major seaports in the world have started their efforts for preserving
the port environment. For instance, the Port of Tacoma in the US initiated its
to include people, businesses, culture and history of a place, in addition to its
native species and natural system. Port environmental policies in Japan are
noteworthy, compared with other countries. The Ministry of Transport Japan
adopted a new policy such that a port becomes a pleasant and enjoyable space.
This particularly policy is, in fact, an upgraded version of the previously
passive environmental policy which focused merely on reducing negative
effects of the usage and development of a port. The Port of Rotterdam in the
Netherlands has ambitiously started promoting numerous economic activities
widely within the port while simultaneously maintaining a clean port
environment. Green port construction is a long, comprehensive, systematic
and complex task and is a matter concerning the overall situation and longterm strategic perspective.2) Thus, it is well known that in properly analyzing
the greenness of a seaport needed are various quantitative and qualitative
1) Button and Henshe (2001).
2) He and Ji (2011).
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An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports : A Fuzzy Set Approach

factors as well as an adequate evaluation structure.

Nevertheless, previous research efforts are scant to aptly deal with these
complex problems. Provided such a deficiency in the literature, this paper
aims (1) to identify by using a factor analysis the evaluation structure and
relevant factors; (2) to incorporate the experts knowledge by adopting the
Fuzzy method in solving the complex problems which are characteristically
ambiguous, unclear, and vague; (3) to assess and rank targeted seaports while
suggesting the pilot tail methodology as an adequate technique to evaluate the
greenness of a seaport.
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: Section 2 is devoted
to a literature review concerning over port environmental management,
improving eco-friendly port facilities, and reducing pollutions; In Section
3 such empirical analysis efforts are attempted as sampling, factor analysis
(FA), and assessing the ports greenness rankings by using the Fuzzy method.

II. Literature Review

In spite of the rising importance of the green port issue, literature on an
eco-friendly port is generally insufficient. The majority of the researches
conducted on this issue have dealt with the legislative and institutional
aspects of the related laws.3) The importance of introducing the management
of pollution sources in the seaport area was emphasized4) while the Self
Diagnosis method could be used for checking up the environment conditions
for the seaport.5) The efforts by the United Nations and other major countries
for coping with the air and sea pollutions in the port area6) were introduced.
It attempted to measure the influence of international trade on the air
pollutions in the US by making use of an economic costs estimation method.7)
In studying on the water and sediment quality, benthic organisms, and
pollution levels for Port Kembla in Australia for the 1975-1995 periods, the
3) Song and Han (2007).
4) Choi et al. (2000).
5) Park (2004).
6) Korea Maritime Institute (2005).
7) Gallagher et al. (2003).
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An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports : A Fuzzy Set Approach

pollution reduction practices had conducted by local heavy industries.8) The

China9) were analyzed. They suggested for such measures to achieve the goal
as applying the notion of green port construction in port planning, a rigorous
environment impact assessment scheme, and establishment of Tianjin Port
environment planning, strengthening environment management, and adopting
various practical measures.
Unlike the majority of the previous studies that focused on merely suggesting
one sided measures to enhance the eco-friendly management of seaports,
comprehensive evaluation factors were provided.10) In assessing the greenness
include resources recycling within the port area, technical developments of
the industries for the ocean waste disposal, development of the breakwater
system for waterfront revitalization; dredging sand recycling, creation of
the artificial sandbar and wetland, introduction of an environmental impact
assessment, use of alternative fuels, introduction of a port environment
management system, port facilities and equipments improvement, incentives
for the pollution reduction, use of renewable-energy sources, modal shift,
construction methods for the noise reduction, and expansion of prevention
facilities for the ocean pollution on the coastal region. However, they failed to
indicate an appropriate methodology for evaluating the greenness of a seaport.
As mentioned before, however, evaluating the green port is a complex
problem, and it involves various quantitative and qualitative factors.
Furthermore, the expert knowledge should be adopted in calculating the
qualitative factors because there are no secondary data available for them.
In order to overcome such an inherent difficulty the Fuzzy method for
investigating experts evaluations11) was applied. This method embraces the
linguistic expression of experts perceptions by utilizing the fuzzy number
concept. In sum, the search results and the Fuzzy method can be nicely
combined as an appropriate method for assessing the greenness of seaports.

8) He and Morrison (2001).

9) He and Ji (2011).
10) Pak et al. (2009).
11) Yeo et al. (2011).
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An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports : A Fuzzy Set Approach

III. Empirical Analysis

1. Application of Factor Analysis
In this paper the Factor Analysis of SPSS was adopted to examine the
attributes from a larger number of variables to a smaller number of factors by

for the factor this paper relied for the data reduction of these factors on the
surveys of experts who are engaged in port public corporations, shipping
companies and global terminal operators. The questionnaire was distributed
to the stakeholders of related seaport from August 24 to September 21, 2009.
The 75 respondents were answered out of 100. The distribution ratio of survey
is shown in Figure1.
<Figure 1> Distribution ratio of survey

The Factor Analysis was conducted based on the criteria suggested in the
previous research, and five representative factors were drawn out as listed
as in Table 1. These five extracted factors from 15 factors could be used
for evaluating the rankings of targeted ports using the Fuzzy method. All
component loadings were over 0.5 in the rotated component matrix using
the Varimax rotation. It was regarded as identical factors when component
loading being over 0.5.
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An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports : A Fuzzy Set Approach

<Table 1> Rotated Component Matrix
Components
1

Use of alternative fuels

.742 .129 -.082 .051 -.084

Incentives of pollution reduction

.725 -.005 -.276 .365 .119

Renewable-energy using

.644 .244 .057 -.090 .384

Dredging sand recycling

.553 .090 .425 .026 .093

Port facilities and equipment improvement

.168 .796 -.109 .065 -.072

Development of breakwater system for waterfront revitalization

.041 .673 .305 .027 .116

Construction methods of noise reduction

.283 .521 .229 .178 .237

Technical developments on the industries of the ocean waste disposal -.150 .158 .818 .014 -.063
Resources recycling within a port area

.040 .030 .795 .262 .028

Introduction of port environment management system

-.011 .474 -.151 .670 -.100

Expansion of prevention facilities of ocean pollution

.042 .189 .306 .657 -.005

.240 -.172 .248 .651 .152

Modal shift

.134 -.055 -.074 -.062 .844

Introduction of environmental impact assessment

.008 .071 -.044 .519 .572

.043 .459 .168 .128 .565

factors were labeled as: (1) ease the environmental burden; (2) environmentfriendly method and technology development of construction; (3) utilization
of port operation; and (5) port redevelopment with introduction of waterfront
concept.
2. Fuzzy Method
1) Fuzzy Set
by Zadeh as a widening of the classical concept of a set.12) The fuzzy theory
has distinctively specific features, in comparison with existing theories as
shown in Table 2.

12) Zadeh (1965).

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An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports : A Fuzzy Set Approach

<Table 2> Comparisons with existing science and Fuzzy theory
Existing science

Fuzzy theory

Viewpoint

Objectivity

Admitting subjectivity

Data

Accuracy

Admitting incompleteness, ambiguity

Theory

Mathematical,
theoretical
rigidity

Not necessary to be precise

Measurement

Quantitative

Possibility of qualitative interpretation

Interference

Eliminate within the limits of the possible

Admitting somewhat

Experience

Eliminate within the limits of the possible

Use possibility

Source: Kim (2008)

Fuzzy sets are the sets that have degrees of membership of elements.
The membership of elements in a classical set is assessed in binary terms
according to bivalent condition an element either belonging or not belonging
to the set. Conversely, the Fuzzy set theory is allowed to the gradual
assessment of the membership of elements in the set. This is told with the
aid of a membership function valued in the real unit interval [0, 1] (Fig.2).
Fuzzy sets generalize classical sets because the indicator functions of the
classical sets are special cases of the membership functions of the fuzzy sets,
if the latter only have values 0 or 1. Classical bivalent sets are in the fuzzy set
theory commonly called crisp sets. Triangle fuzzy number consists of three
parameters (a1, a2, a3), and the membership function of can be denoted
as shown in Equation 1.
<Figure 2> Function of Triangle Fuzzy Number

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An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports : A Fuzzy Set Approach

(1)

Ith
Equation 2.
= (a1(i), a2(i), a3(i),

i = 1, 2, 3 , n

(2)

(3)

The linguistic variables which were measured as the form of word or

to denote a fuzzy set. Figure 3 shows a triangle membership function which
values the linguistic measures such as very bad, bad, medium, good and very
Table 3.

<Figure 3> Function of Triangle Fuzzy Number

Source : Herrera et al. (2000)

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An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports : A Fuzzy Set Approach

<Table 3> Value of Triangle Membership function
Very Bad(VB)

(0, 0, 0.3)

Bad(B)

(0, 0.3,0.5)

Medium(M)

(0.2,0.5,0.8)

Good(G)

(0.5,0.7,1)

Very Good(VG)

(0.7, 1, 1)

The final step of the Fuzzy method is defuzzification. The aim of

is Center of Gravity. This method resolves the center of the area of the
combined membership functions.

(4)

2) Application of Fuzzy Set

The Fuzzy method is chosen for evaluating green ports on the ground that
it contains the characteristics of complexity and ambiguity. Actually, it is
not easy to evaluate its qualitative factors of the green criteria for seaports.
Collecting the quantitative data about qualitative factors is limited. For all
the reasons given previously, this study is evaluating the ports by fuzzifying
the result from experts survey. Especially, in the light of port evaluation, it

is a proper consideration by evaluating ports a certain degree of greening.

linguistic variables that are presented the green port criteria. The survey was
conducted from October 05, 2009 to October 10, 2009. The 39 out of 40
respondents from port public corporations, shipping companies and global
terminal operators were replied. The distribution ratio of survey is shown in
Figure4.

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An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports : A Fuzzy Set Approach

<Figure 4> Distribution ratio of survey

The results of fuzzy method based on experts survey are shown in Table 4
and Figure 5.
<Table 4> Port ranking on each factor

Factor 1
Factor 2
Factor 3
Factor 4
Factor 5
Overall Ranking

In-cheon
0.457(3)
0.500(3)
0.357(3)
0.487(3)
0.454(3)
3

Bu-san
0.528(1)
0.631(1)
0.444(2)
0.601(1)
0.550(1)
1

G-factor(Ranking)
Gwang-yang Pyeong-taek
0.487(2)
0.398(5)
0.560(2)
0.455(4)
0.469(1)
0.383(5)
0.573(2)
0.485(4)
0.509(2)
0.426(4)
2
4

<Figure 5> Ports ranking on each factor

076

Ul-san
0.383(6)
0.455(4)
0.368(4)
0.442(5)
0.406(5)
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An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports : A Fuzzy Set Approach

<Figure 6> Overall port ranking

In terms of the factor 1 representing ease the environmental burden Busan and Gwang-yang took the first and second positions in the ranking,
respectively. Regarding the factor 2 (environment-friendly method and
yang is at the back of Bu-san. Bu-san has changed the diesel fuel which was
a power source of RTGC into electricity. Subsequently, 202 tons per year
in nitrogen compound, 9 tons in diesel dust, and 18.2 billion won in the
operating expense have decreased, to which it may be attributed for being
The third factor represents the utilization of resources and waste within the
the marine ecology because it is a highly resistant refractory and buoyant
in the water property. Usually, 70-80% of marine waste originates from the
land, while the remaining 20-30% comes from the sea. Therefore, it is a very
important factor to conserve the marine ecosystem and also to reduce waste
collection costs. Gwang-yang achieved a high mark in this factor, ranking
experts survey about the factor 4 (efficient planning and management of port
operation). An efficient planning and management of the port operation is the
skill to minimize air pollutant emissions generated from the port operation. It is

of ships: docking system, berth system, yard system, transfer system and gate
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An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports : A Fuzzy Set Approach

system. These systems correspond to the sub-phrase of port operation composed

of different load and unload stages. It seems that Bu-san earned the highest mark
Lastly, the factor 5 stands for port redevelopment with the introduction of
waterfront concept. Overall, Bu-san is the best port and Gwang-yang is the
second best port in the green port rankings, as shown in Figure 6.

IV. Conclusion
The importance of the environmental concerns in managing the seaports is
being emphasized. Many major seaports around the world have made started
their efforts for suitable development as a green port. Evaluating the green of
a port is worthy of academic and research attention. A series of meaningful
results were derived from the adaptation of the methodology suggested,
producing for port related stakeholders some useful insights into the concept
of a green port.
Factor Analysis (FA) to evaluate the eco-friendly level of the seaport. These
are Factor 1: ease the environmental burden, Factor 2: environment-friendly
method and technology development of construction, Factor 3: utilization
of resources and wastes within a port area, Factor 4: efficient planning
and management of port operation and Factor 5: port redevelopment with
introduction of waterfront concept. In addition, this paper showed the
rankings of Korean five trade ports i.e. In-cheon, Bu-san, Gwang-yang,
Pyeong-taek and Ul-san using the GCS suggested. The fuzzy method was
used to evaluate the greenness of seaport because the green port analysis is
characteristically complex and ambiguous.
the environmental burden, the Factor 2: environment-friendly method and
management of port operation, and the Factor 5: port redevelopment with the
3: utilization of resources and waste inside the port. Overall, Bu-san was

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An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports : A Fuzzy Set Approach

chosen the best port as far as the greenness of seaports is concerned in Korea.
The fuzzy method suggested in this research can also be adapted to logistics
related industries, e.g., the evaluation of competition between air ports, and
that of transport mode and distribution centre selection and competition. In
this respect, further studies will be needed.*

* Date of Contribution ; May 16, 2011

Date of Acceptance ; March 30, 2012
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An Evaluation of Greenness of major Korean ports : A Fuzzy Set Approach

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